Francisco Ventoso (Movistar) has won Stage 6 of the 2011 Giro. The Spaniard took a bunch sprint to win the hilly, 216-km ride from Orvieto to Fiuggi in 5:15:39. Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-ISD) finished second, and Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giacattoli) finished third. Pieter Weening (Rabobank) remains the maglia rosa.

The stage's rolling, hilly terrain made it seem that an escapee would probably win. Jussi Veikkanen (Omega Pharma) did his best to be that escapee. With nine km ridden, the Finn attacked. Kristof Vandewalle (Quick Step), Yaroslav Popovych (RadioShack), Sacha Modolo (Colnago), and Frederik Veuchelen (Vacansoleil) joined Veikkanen, and the break of the day had formed.

The break's lead maxed out at six minutes. The peloton began to chase and gradually whittled away the fugitives' advantage. With 43 km left and 2:50 separating bunch and break, Modolo was dropped.

Farnese Vini led the pursuit, and attrition took its toll. With eight km left, Veikkanen dropped out of the lead group. Popovych was dropped as the climb to the finish began.

David Millar (Garmin) attempted to bridge up to Vandewalle twice, and Robert Kiserlovski (Astana) and Frantisek Rabon (HTC) also launched attacks, but Vandewalle stayed clear until the peloton reeled him in with 1,500 m left.

Danilo Di Luca (Katusha) attacked, but the bunch caught him. Danilo Hondo (Lampre) led out Petacchi, but Ventoso had the latter's wheel. He came around the Italian veteran, who slowed in the last 20 m.

Ventoso felt that he could win the stage when he became aware of it. "I had this stage marked with an ‘X' because I knew the uphill would favor me, but I thought Petacchi was going to get it," the Spaniard said. "I followed his wheel up the climb. He cracked with 20 meters to go and I was able to win. Thanks to Danilo Hondo [of Lampre] for doing an incredible job of keeping the opposition under control and then Di Luca lined the bunch out. Then I knew I was in with a chance."

In the overall, Weening leads Konstantin Sivtsov and Marco Pinotti (both from HTC) by 0:02. Stage 7 could change this state of affairs. The 110-km ride from Maddaloni to Montevergine di Mercogliano will end with the 2011 Giro's first mountaintop finish. The riders will tackle a Category 2 ascent to that finish, but before that they will take on a Category 1 climb. Who will win? Will Weening keep his maglia rosa? Check in at www.roadcycling.com and find out!